


Hesitation

by Hstaya



Series: Phantom one-shots [3]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-03
Updated: 2015-08-03
Packaged: 2018-04-12 18:01:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4489314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hstaya/pseuds/Hstaya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny hesitates in battle against Skulker and begins doubting himself. When Tucker and Sam stumble upon him fluff ensues. Short one-shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hesitation

**Author's Note:**

> I've put this in the same series as my other works which are set 3 years in the future, but this one is set early in the cannon show. This is the first time Tucker and Sam realise Danny doesn't get away from all fights unscathed, and he's never been badly hurt before. Just some fluff and comforting a self-doubting Danny.  
> Not quite Danny/Sam, but if you want to see it that way you can. I think it's still very much a budding romance here. Also, there's definitely a bromance between Danny and Tucker. Hope you enjoy!

Right arm essentially useless, Danny reached for his radio with his left, turning it on and dramatically increasing the volume. Despite his parents being in the lab and Jazz downstairs reading he didn’t want to risk being heard. Questions were not something he wanted right now. If he cried out in pain Jazz would definitely come running.

He’d flown into the house as Phantom and snatched a few supplies from their medicine cabinet before coming up to his room, but looking at them now he realised he wasn’t entirely sure how to use them. He pulled of his shirt and inspected the burn on his arm.  
“Red and blistering,” he swore under his breath, “My two favourite words.”  
How he was going to explain a second-degree burn to his family was beyond him. With a sigh Danny reached for the ice pack he’d taken from the freezer and pressed it against the skin. The cool was a welcome relief but the stinging it caused made him pull back. He’d dealt with cuts and grazes before, but a burn was new. A lucky hit from Skulker. Or what he had convinced himself was a lucky hit. In truth he’d been exhausted, and not for any particularly noble reason. He’d been at Sam’s place with both her and Tucker watching a movie marathon until early in the morning. Danny had caught up on some sleep, but mid-afternoon his ghost-sense had gone off, giving him a few seconds’ warning. Skulker had dropped from the roof while Danny had been watering the plants in the backyard. If he’d been shot right then he could have forgiven himself, but he had changed into Phantom, had his plasma rays ready, had even _seen_ Skulker load up a new weapon on his wrist. He now had to explain a blistering burn likely radiating some kind of ghost-energy to a family of ghost-hunters because in the middle of a fight he had _hesitated._  
“Stupid, stupid!” he scolded himself. “It’s like I’m only getting worse at this.”

He knew he had to cool the burn down but other than that what was he meant to do? Wrap it up in a bandage? He winced at the thought. The ice-pack had hurt enough. Despite that, Danny grit his teeth and applied it again. After sitting there for a minute, concentrating on the radio to distract himself, the stinging died down. His hand holding it was going numb, but so was the burn. His left shoulder was beginning to ache from holding up the pack, not for a lack of strength but more likely from the large bruise beginning to form there. Another mistake. Held down at point blank, stamped on by metal boots, he had only thought to phase through the ground _after_ Skulker had trampled him like a herd of wild elephants.

_Stupid._

It wasn’t the only time he’d hesitated lately either. He’d hesitated when Valerie had pointed a gun at his chest the other week, hesitated when Technus had a monstrous ghost-machine poised over Tucker a few days ago, heck, even hesitated when the Box Ghost had flown past him. That was one blemish on his reputation that Tucker would never let him forget. His hesitations were putting people in danger. If Sam hadn’t fired at Technus the other day who knows what would have become of Tucker? Danny shivered at the thought, then bolted upright when someone knocked on his door. His eyes went wide and words were lost in the back of his throat.

 _No, Danny you idiot whatever you do don’t hesitate now!_  
“Uh, hold on a minute!” he called out. He prayed whoever it was would listen for once and wait for him. He began quickly gathering up his supplies when he heard the door open. His blood turned to ice.  
“Danny?”  
“Dude, we were meant to meet up at the mall half an hour ago.”

The ice melted. Tucker and Sam’s curious faces peaked around the door. Sam’s face quickly turned to horror as her eyes trailed to his arm. It suddenly occurred to the Halfa that he was completely shirtless. In front of Tuck it was fine, but oh god why was Sam coming in?  
Danny scrambled to find his shirt while simultaneously trying to answer Tucker’s accusation.  
“Sorry, got caught up. The mall sort of slipped my mind,” he said, bringing the shirt over his head. A hand on his good arm stopped him.  
“Danny, what happened?”  
He felt his cheeks go red when Sam tugged his top away from him. He instinctively covered his mid-section as best he could. Danny was about to protest that he was fine and that nothing serious happened, but again the words got caught in the back of his throat. Skulker wasn’t the worst threat out there. He felt hollow. So instead he replied,  
“I hesitated.”

He could feel the familiar tightness in his throat that usually signified he was going to break out in tears, but _no, I’m stronger than that._  
“I hesitated in battle against Skulker,” he repeated, lowering his gaze. “Twice. All I’m doing is getting worse at this. I feel so stupid.”  
The hug that followed was both unexpected and painful.  
Flaring heat and pain surged through him. He pulled away immediately, hissing and cradling his right arm. Sam reeled back too, hands over her mouth.  
“God Danny, sorry.”  
Tucker had walked over to the radio and turned it off. The silence that followed was heavy. Danny could feel his friends’ gazes trailing to the burn. He shivered against the cold.  
“Have you ever thought that maybe the bad guys are just getting better?” Tucker asked, “Not that you’re getting worse? You’re dealing with a lot dude.”  
“But the other day when Technus had you pinned down-!” his tight throat cut Danny’s sentence off before he could finish it. Tucker only grinned.  
“Sam had it covered dude,” he said, “Don’t beat yourself up over it. You’re only doing the bad buys a favour.”

Danny had to let out a laugh at that. He wiped away the tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. Where would he be without Tucker? Training, practice – they were the responses he should be having, not curling up in his room alone and sulking. He froze when he felt Sam’s hand on his shoulder.  
Danny carefully watched her as she absent-mindedly stroked the skin around the burn, her brows creased in thought.  
“Does this happen often?” she asked quietly. Danny paused, lips drawn tight. He didn’t like worrying her. Or Tucker, whose gaze had returned to his best friend’s arm with a similar expression of concern.  
“Looks pretty bad dude,” he said, walking closer and kneeling down to sift through the materials Danny had collected.  
“I-I’ve never been burnt before,” he stuttered, eyes fixed on Sam’s hand and very aware that he was still shirtless in front of her. “But I get cuts and things. Bruises.”

Sam’s eyes quickly surveyed his form, taking in the hunched position and the quickly darkening skin on his upper back and shoulders.  
“You never came to us for help?” she asked, locking eyes with him. Danny’s tongue felt too big for his mouth.  
“I uh, didn’t really need it,” he managed after a moment, focusing on the lavender of Sam’s eyes. “I-I mean, I never got anything serious.”  
“You don’t call this serious?” Tucker exclaimed, jabbing a finger at the burn. Sam reapplied the ice-pack, causing Danny to flinch and hiss at the pain.  
“How long have you had this on?” she asked. Danny leaned back slightly, feeling a wave of exhaustion hit him like the back of Skulker’s hand.  
“I-I dunno,” he said, “A few minutes, tops.”  
“You need it on for at least twenty,” Sam said, her eyes glued to the injury.

Danny smiled sheepishly, feeling his back protest at the arched position he was forcing it into.  
“I didn’t really know what to do,” he said, gesturing to the pile of medical supplies he’d collected. “I grabbed what I could and came up here.”  
“Might not be a bad idea to keep them up here,” Sam said. “Have a first-aid kit ready.”  
“Oh yeah,” Tucker said, pulling back slightly at the realisation, “You’re probably gonna need it.”  
“Real reassuring guys,” Danny rolled his eyes, forcing himself to sit upright when the pain in his back became too much. He winced at the muscles twitching where Skulker had stomped on him.  
“Just your friendly neighborhood reality check,” Tucker said, a small smile gracing his lips.

“What else have you done to yourself?” Sam sighed, gesturing to his back. “You keep squirming.”  
Danny frowned. “Skulker decided to use me as a door mat. Funnily enough my back hurts now.”  
He paused for a moment, ignoring how Sam’s eyes were widening.  
“Nothing new there though,” he continued, “I’ll probably end up with a bruise. Seriously, have you tried being the door mat of a tiny ghost in an oversized metal suit? Not fun.”  
Tucker let out a nervous laugh. “That’s a bit sick, bro.”

“Danny.”

The halfa turned to Sam. Her expression was darker than usual, eyes clouded and jaw clenched.  
“If this happens again I want you to come to us.”  
She paused, glancing at Tucker.  
“Well, to me. I know a bit about this sort of thing already, and after this I think I’ll do a first-aid course.”  
“Oh come on,” Danny said, laughing, “I’ll be fine.”  
“Danny!” Sam’s tone caught the attention of both boys, cutting off whatever arguments were forming in their heads. She let out a deep sigh. “Danny, if you get seriously hurt we _can’t_ take you to a hospital. One of us needs to know how to stitch you up.”  
Danny pressed his lips together. His arm was becoming numb, and even though the burn still stung and his back still ached the pain was certainly dying away little by little.  
“Thanks Sam,” he smiled sheepishly.


End file.
